Hope is a firm expectation, which makes you have confidence in someone or something. This means that the synonym of hope is trust or confidence.
Faith on the other hand is a firm conviction in the accomplishment of something; the confidence that one’s expectation will be met or fulfilled soon.
Do the meanings of these words concur? Can we substitute faith for hope and vice-versa? Can we say that faith is the same thing as hope? The answer is No. Faith is a definite truth; something we believe is happening or will happen soon while hope is an expectation of something happening.
It is true that these words have a close meaning and it is also true that they are connected, as there cannot be hope without faith.
However, you are not holding onto the confession of hope but of faith. You believe (faith) that what you are expecting (hope) will be realized. Therefore there must be faith before what you are hoping for comes to you.
“Let us hold fast the profession of our faith”. Feed your spirit man with words of faith.
A man holding onto something never falls, therefore you need to hold fast before you can have what you ask for. Praise God, that we are not called to fall, to stop halfway or to give up completely. Rather we are called to be accomplishers.
No matter the events around you today, no matter the attacks from the camp of the enemy - all these are not important. What is important is your holding fast the profession of your faith. The Bible says that we, in contrast to those in the world, are different and are called by the Most high.
People, who do not give up half way into their mission, people, who achieve their goals are those who hold fast. They are people who do not allow setbacks or stumbling blocks to deter them from accomplishing their objectives because they believe, have faith and hope to the end for God to bring His promises to pass in their lives.
Perhaps you are reading this and thinking it is easier said than done. I am not saying the road is going to be paved with gold all the way in your getting to your God-ordained destination in life. Of course there will be times when the roads will not be tarred and you have to walk on stones and other sharp objects. But that is where the holding fast comes in. You hold fast, cling to your faith even when everything and everywhere looks dreary.
There are some movies you watch where a character is about to fall from a tree or mountain. You see him clinging to a part of the mountain or tree with all his strength because he doesn’t want to fall. That is exactly the way you should hold fast, hang on to your faith, hang on as if your life depends on it. Those who hold fast to the end never end up disappointed!
No matter the problem- family, finances, failing health- hold on.
A songwriter wrote:
Hold on just a little while longer
This heavy burden they will soon pass over
Run the race
Keep the faith
Your change will come
God puts faith into your heart and coming to Him, you have the hope that He will make a way in the midst of difficulties.
But there is an enemy of your faith whose job is to ensure that you do not see God’s enormous power, but your gargantuan problems. You just need to have strong faith, believing not in the problems, but in possibilities.
But without faith, it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him. Hebrews 11: 6
This clearly shows that what you believe and what you confess about God and your life will determine your level of success and achievements.
If you do not have faith, believe and confess, then you cannot please the One who will guarantee your having all your heart’s desires.
This is also where the words of your mouth play an important role. The devil is always feeding minds with negative thoughts and it is all too easy for you to be drowned or overwhelmed by those thoughts. If this happens to you then your profession of faith gradually fizzles out.
As you believe, you have to confess to make your faith complete.
For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Romans 10:10
As you believe you have to say it out loud. Believe me, constant practice of confessing what you believe will give you added confidence and unwavering faith that what you are saying will come to pass.
The devil loves playing with minds because he knows that many decisions are first taken from there and he could easily thwart such decisions before they come to fruition.
For instance, you have a big idea about starting a business, which you know will thrive. At first you are excited about such an innovative business idea. All of a sudden your mind goes to all the challenges you have to face doing that business, the capital, clientele, and your confidence. Before you could say Peter Dublin, you have abandoned that idea! The devil has done his job by feeding you with everything except success about the business. If however you rise up, confess that you can do it and back it up with God’s word, the sky will not be your limit! I am not saying that you won’t face challenges but the fact remains that your attitude and confessions about such challenges will go a long way to determine your success. Remember, you attitude will determine your altitude.
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith …
The Lord is saying, “Hold fast without wavering”. This means to stand firmly. At all times you must keep hold of your faith. Let what you believe and what you say ‘drip’ of firm faith.
Ted Turner, one of the richest men in the United States and the founder of Cable News Network, had strong faith to start something never before done in the world: a TV station that will transmit live to every part of the world. Many people, when they heard it, laughed at the man and his ‘alien’ ideas. I am sure that if he had allowed what people said to deter him, we may have had a similar news network, but not founded by Ted Turner and the fame and fortune that accompanied that establishment would have gone to someone else.
Have you ever had an idea and you later abandoned it because you felt it was too much for you and you were doubtful of its success only to later see someone else thrive doing the same thing? It’s not too late.
Start today and do something about those wonderful ideas God has given you. If you believe in Him who gave you the idea and you confess His words, your life will not be the same again.
What must you hold fast to? Your confessions; what proceeds from your mouth. It does not please God that you change your confession. For instance as a businessman going through financial problems, you believe that God will make a way for you. No matter how long it takes, so long as you believe, He whom you serve and who has promised you will definitely bring it to pass. Just hold on! You therefore need to be firm and persistent without wavering.
Everyone must have his confession, which must be done on a daily basis.
When you hold fast to your faith without wavering, you will see the glory of the Lord. By holding fast to you confessions, you are proving that you have faith in God. But if you confess the opposite and yield to circumstances, you are inadvertently praising the devil and presenting the Lord as a liar. This means that the Word of God is not in you.
But God is faithful to His promises - only believe! Believe that your Saviour is alive and with Him there is nothing impossible. Believe that the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is able to solve all your problems. Believe and hold fast to your faith.
There is a glory waiting particularly for you if you believe. The demand from you is only one thing - faith.
What then is faith?
Now faith is the substance of thing hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrew 11:1
“Is” in this passage is a present tense, showing that the faith that works is not what you believed in the past or what you hope to believe. It is what you believe NOW. Your faith must be alive at all times. You not only need to say it but also need to believe that it will come to pass.
What are the substances hoped for? Anything and everything imaginable that you believe you can have. God does not have a limitation on his power, what He can give you is even more than all that you could ever ask from Him.
The psalmists said:
How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God!how great is the sum of them If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: Psalms139: 17,18
If therefore God’s thoughts towards you are more than the sand on the seashores, then what is it you desire from Him that will be impossible? The impossibility will come only from you when you don’t believe that He can do it.
I love a song by popular a group which says:
If you believe
Then you will see
There is hope where you are
Only realize that nothing
Nothing is too hard
From now; begin to act out your faith.
You may pray, confess, believe but nothing happens. Remember you are not alone. Just hold on to His word and never waver because in due season, your expectations will come to fruition
Allegorically speaking, faith is like a lorry loaded with all the answers to our prayers. For the Lorry to be sent to you, there must be a road. You build the road with your confession.
Have you seen how roads are made? To construct a road you need to prepare in a big way- clear trees in the area if they are standing in the way, level the road, pour asphalt and use some machinery to ensure the work is properly done. All these are not done in a day. They take some time. Therefore, if you feel it is taking a long time for your prayers to be answered, then remember that delay is not denial! God wants you to have your desires at a time best suited for you. He does not want to bless you and in the end you regret such blessings. The Bible says the blessings of the Lord maketh rich and add no sorrows.
God loves you immeasurably and He wants only the very best for you. Therefore wait for Him.
Confess your desires everyday. It is only those who hold fast to the confessions of their faith that the lorry will go to.
And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we should be saved was then taken away. But after long abstinence Paul stood forth in the midst of them, and said, Sirs, ye should have hearkened unto me, and not have loosed from Crete, and to have gained this harm and loss. And now I exhort you to be of good cheer: for there shall be no loss of any man’s life among you,
but of the ship. For there stood by me this night the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, Saying, Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar; and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer: for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. Acts 27:20-25
In this passage, Paul was intending to travel to Rome where he must stand before the court of Caesar. On his way to Rome, he got a conviction that the journey would be a dangerous one, but no one gave heed to him because they believed in how nice the weather looked and in the master and owner of the ship. They sailed, not paying attention to Paul’s admonition. At first the weather was favourable but later Paul’s words came to pass. The storm was so strong that for some days neither the sun nor stars could be seen, and all hopes of being saved was lost. While those on board were lamenting their fate, an angel of the Lord appeared to Paul to comfort him saying:
Fear not, Paul; thou must be brought before Caesar: and, lo, God hath given thee all them that sail with thee. Acts 27:24
Notice that the angel did not speak before the storm, but when it started. He spoke when total darkness had appeared and they had not the smallest chance of survival.
And when neither sun nor stars in many days appeared, and no small tempest lay on us, all hope that we
should be saved was then taken away. Act 27:20
Maybe, your ship of life is being tossed dangerously by a “tempest” and you are thinking you cannot survive. You can’t see the sun or stars shinning. All you see all day is gloom, darkness, gloom and more gloom. You cannot take a step because you do not know where that step will lead you. If you remain in this situation and resign yourself to fate, then the problem has just started. When you are in this situation where you think all hope is lost, you are all alone in the world and every imaginable problem is coming your way, the main problem is not the things you are facing. The big problem is your resignation to fate. The victory lies in believing and trusting in the One who has the entire world in His hands; the One who calleth the things that be not as though they were; the One who knows the problem before it ever came; the only One who will not allow you to be burned by the fire or drowned by the ocean, or allow the “tempest” to kill you; the One who will take you from the position of lowliness to an exalted one; the One who will surmount the insurmountable, challenge your challengers and make you a praise on earth!
Beloved, God is too awesome for your joy to be overshadowed by problems. Learn to focus more on God than on your problems. Focusing on problems brings more wrinkles to your face, more heaviness to your heart, more gray hairs to your head, more depreciation of your family, social and Christian life. Therefore begin to focus on God who will turn everything around for you.
Remember: Joseph from prisoner to Prime Minister, Gideon from coward to conqueror, David from pasture to palace, Ruth from cursed nation to lineage of Christ. The list is endless.
Your life too can be transformed only if you believe it and confess it. So fear not but believe and the sun will rise again and the stars will begin to sparkle like diamonds in your sky!
For I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told me. Acts 27:25
This is God speaking to you. Live by faith and praise Him for this.
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved, and thy house. Acts16: 31
You can save your house and your loved ones. Only believe.
And the LORD shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath; if that thou hearken unto the commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and do them. Deuteronomy 28:13
You can salvage your business and make it rise it to new height. Only obey the Lord by having faith in Him.
For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich. 2Corinthians 8:9
Yes it will be so! Only hold fast the confession of your faith.
And all these blessing shall come on thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of the cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee. Deuteronomy 28:2,11
If He has promised, He will do it. All He requires from you is to believe that He can do it and wait on Him for in due season, He will cause your light to shine out of obscurity and your darkness will be as the noonday. Only believe.
